Village chiefs top sector’s high earner list

The tough times that have squeezed media and entertainment companies over the past 18 months have not been reflected in the remuneration of most of their senior executives.

Although some media executives have watched their pay decline in line with the weaker results produced by their companies, many have seen increases in their base salaries and – in some cases – higher bonus payments and share-based compensation.

Village Roadshow
chief executive
Graham Burke
topped this year’s list of the highest paid media and entertainment executives thanks to a 20.3 per cent jump in his remuneration to just under $5.1 million, including a $972,075 bonus for 2009-10 that was paid in 2010-11.

Not far behind him were the other members of the troika that has run Village since 1988: brothers Robert and
John Kirby
, who also received remuneration increases of about 20 per cent, taking home about $4.5 million each.

The next spot on this year’s list was taken by
Seven Group
chief executive
Peter Gammell
, with 2010-11 remuneration of $4.9 million.

Although managing Seven’s WesTrac industrial equipment division is a big part of his job, Mr Gammell has a large role in the media sector via Seven’s interests in Seven West Media, Consolidated Media Holdings and other media companies.

Mr Gammell soared from number 80 on last year’s list.

He was paid $525,000 by Seven Group in 2009-10, although that payment only covered the period from April 28 – when Seven Group was officially launched after the merger of Kerry Stokes’s Seven Network and WesTrac – and June 30 last year.

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Photon Group
chief executive
Jeremy Philips
was the highest ranked newcomer, roaring on to this year’s list at number six with total remuneration of just under $4 million.

Mr Philips easily ranked as the highest paid executive at a listed marketing services company. His counterpart at the much larger
STW Communications Group
,
Mike Connaghan
, was paid $787,500 in calendar 2010.

The remuneration of
Robert Morgan
, executive chairman of Australasia’s largest marketing services company, Clemenger Group, was not available as it is a foreign-owned company.

Other senior media and marketing executives are also missing from the list of the highest paid staff as they work for privately owned or foreign companies, including Nine Entertainment Co’s David Gyngell, Foxtel’s Kim Williams, WIN Corp’s Andrew Gordon and News Ltd’s John Hartigan.

News Corp executives and directors such as Rupert Murdoch, Chase Carey and James Murdoch are not included on the list as Australia represents a tiny part of the media group.

As a non-executive director of News Corp,
Lachlan Murdoch
was paid $US504,000 in 2010-11, including $US274,000 related to a change in pension value and non-qualified deferred compensation earnings.

His remuneration as interim chief executive of
Ten
Network, a role he took in late February this year, will not be revealed until November, when the company releases its executive pay details for the 12 months to August 31. (Mr Murdoch owns 9 per cent of Ten.)

Ten’s former executive chairman,
Nick Falloon
, who left the company in December last year, took home just under $3.7 million in 2009-10, including a $900,000 payment from Canadian company CanWest Global Communications in relation to the sale of its 50.1 per cent stake in Ten in 2009.

Payments from CanWest also boosted the remuneration of Ten chief executive Grant Blackley, who left in February this year, and chief financial officer John Kelly, who left in March.

Ten has not yet released details of the exit payments received by Mr Falloon, Mr Blackley, Mr Kelly and other executives who departed during 2010-11, including general manager of sport David White, head of news and public affairs Jim Carroll and chief digital officer Nick Spooner.

Former
Fairfax Media
chief executive
Brian McCarthy
collected a $2.36 million termination payment after his hasty exit in December last year, boosting his total remuneration to $3.17 million.

The second largest termination or retirement payment went to Village Roadshow group company secretary Philip Leggo, who received $902,000 when he retired in April this year. His total 2010-11 remuneration was $2.05 million.

The highly paid senior executives at regional pay television company
Austar United Communications
, which is the subject of a takeover bid from its capital-city counterpart Foxtel, saw their remuneration slide during 2010 because of declines in their share-based compensation.

Austar chief executive
John Porter
fell from first to eighth on the list of the highest paid media and entertainment executives thanks to a 31.2 per cent drop in his remuneration during calendar 2010, to $3.6 million. Mr Porter’s base salary rose 3 per cent to $819,880, but his cash bonus slipped 1.8 per cent to $297,354 and his share-based compensation sank 44.1 per cent to $2.1 million.

The shuffling of Mr Stokes’s media and industrial equipment assets during 2009-10 and 2010-11 made it difficult to get a clear picture of the remuneration of his key media executives, including
David Leckie
,
Bruce McWilliam
and
Peter Lewis
.

Mr Leckie was paid $1.3 million by Seven Group, where he is a director, during 2010-11. He also collected $725,629 for his role as chief executive of Seven West Media, but that figure only covered the period from April 12, when Seven West was created by the merger of West Australian Newspapers and Seven Media Group, to June 30.

Mr McWilliam and Mr Lewis earned $279,709 and $202,422 respectively from Seven West for the two-and-a-half months to June 30.

Mr McWilliam was also paid $754,281 by Seven Group, while Mr Lewis received $974,241 from the company.